Newbie here: Hard Drive Failed!! Need some advice.

SaraM29 · Oct 18, 2014

Hi everyone!

So today, my hard drive became unbootable, I think. When I attempt to start my computer, it passes the ASUS screen and then goes to a black screen that says: 'Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key.'

I am assuming this means I need a new hard drive. Is this correct? The hard drive is detectable in my BIOS menu, but doesn't boot correctly from it.

I have no important data on this computer, I just use it for gaming. If I install a new hard drive, and use a bootable USB drive, will I be able to get my computer back?

Hope that makes sense! Thanks!

Agera One · Oct 18, 2014

Yes, that will make your computer to work. Have you tried setting boot priority to hard disk first?

SaraM29 · Oct 18, 2014

In my BIOS, under boot options, the only thing that is listed is that hard drive. I also have the same hard drive listed under boot override.

My hard drive had been making clicking noises intermittently for the past few days. Today, I moved the computer to move my ram around because of a hardware reserved issue. That fixed my hardware reserved issue, but I guess it moved my hard drive around to the point where it died.

Agera One · Oct 18, 2014

"Clicking" noises means the needle is touching the platters at some points. It damages the disk soon and makes data unread. Download crystal disk info and see the health status or post a screen shot of it.

Guest · Oct 18, 2014

Your Hard Drive is good as long as its detected by the BIOS...
In simple words, the file which starts your Operating system has either got corrupted or missing....
Therefore your computer cant start normally and it wants another booting method either from a CD or FDD...
The solution is simple.....
You can either use a recovery disc or such to recover your system files....
Otherwise you can go ahead and install a fresh copy of windows...

As u said that your files are not important, i recommend you to do a format and reinstall windows...
You can try googling if u have any doubts regarding formating and reinstalling windows...

SaraM29 · Oct 18, 2014

Agera One :

I am unable to get onto that computer because it wont boot from the hard drive. I took a screenshot of HD tune or whatever the program is called earlier today.

http://tinypic.com/r/j0zmdz/8

I ran boot camp assistant on my mac today and made my USB into a bootable USB for windows 8.

SaraM29 · Oct 18, 2014

!! When I attempt to boot from the USB I made, I get stuck at a screen that says ASUS. Nothing happens.

Agera One · Oct 18, 2014

From that image, the hard drive has undergone 413 re-mapping (re-allocation) operations (moving the data from bad/dead sector to 'spare' sectors) in which it has found "375" bad sectors in your drive. That is, the hard drive used up 375 spare sectors and every hard drive comes with the relatively less spare sectors. The clicking sound will increase the bad sector count and the HDD firmware re-allocates data to spare sector again. When all the spare sectors gets used up, the data will have no place to be moved to and will become "unrecoverable/unreadable".

So, in your case, either the HDD had used up all the spare sectors already, the OS files would have got corrupted due to clicking or the HDD firmware cannot re-allocate the OS files to the spare sectors because the OS files will always be "in use" when the computer is ON. Replace HDD ASAP.

Agera One · Oct 18, 2014

SaraM29 :

Change the boot priority order to USB device and then try booting from USB.

SaraM29 · Oct 18, 2014

Agera One :

I booted directly from the USB in the BIOS menu and it brings me to a screen that says ASUS and it doesn't change.

I can select either the name of the 'USB' or 'UEFI: USB name'. Upon booting from either of these, I either get the frozen ASUS logo or a blinking white cursor in the top left corner.

Agera One · Oct 18, 2014

How did you made your USB a bootable device?

bignastyid · Oct 18, 2014

Wrong. Just because a the HDD is detected by the bios does not means that it's good, it just means it's not completely dead.

bignastyid · Oct 18, 2014

SaraM29 :

Agera One :

I am unable to get onto that computer because it wont boot from the hard drive. I took a screenshot of HD tune or whatever the program is called earlier today.

http://tinypic.com/r/j0zmdz/8

I ran boot camp assistant on my mac today and made my USB into a bootable USB for windows 8.

Time for a replacement HDD, to confirm you can run the diagnostics from the hdd manufacture, but from what i see in the SMART info you most likely have a bad head on the drive

SaraM29 · Oct 18, 2014

I made my USB using boot camp assistant on my Macbook Pro. I'm hoping that once I have a new HDD in there, it'll boot properly?

This is my old hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145533

Would this be a good replacement?: http://www.staples.com/Toshiba-2TB-35-Desktop-Internal-Hard-Drive/product_571926

bignastyid · Oct 18, 2014

If you can get a Hybrid drive. Its not quite as fast as a SSD but it will be faster than a traditional hdd.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st2000dx001

SaraM29 · Oct 18, 2014

bignastyid :

Honestly, all I do is watch Netflix and play WoW. I don't need anything fancy! And the one I linked is available down the street right now. But thank you for the suggestion!

Agera One · Oct 18, 2014

Yes,
HDD ---> More storage, less price, less performance.
SSD ---> Less storage, high price, high performance.
SSHD ---> Median in all three.

SaraM29 · Oct 18, 2014

Alright, so if I purchase a new HDD, install it correctly, and set it up in the BIOS menu, will Windows 8 boot correctly from my USB?

bignastyid · Oct 18, 2014

SaraM29 :

Yes, however om not sure if that usb made from boot camp will be bootable on a pc. Try using microsofts win 7 usb tool(works with win 8 too). http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

Newbie here: Hard Drive Failed!! Need some advice.

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